A new study indicates that it applies to everyone who wants to live a longer, healthier life
A new study supports the saying, If you want to live long, do not go to bed angry!. An old advice regarding marriage says,Don't go to bed angry, but a new study indicates that it applies to everyone who wants to live a longer, healthier life.
And a team from Oregon State University found that when people feel that the argument is resolved before the end of the day, the negative effect does not affect the next day. This is because the negative emotional response associated with a conflict is diminished, or even erased, once steps are taken to resolve the conflict.
The latest study also found that older individuals are more likely to resolve an argument, avoid it altogether, and are much better at not allowing the emotional response to continue into the next day.
The ability to suppress negative memories is an essential part of mental health. However, sticking to thoughts can increase stress levels that have a major impact on overall health.
Robert Stausky, lead author of the study and associate professor at the School of Public Health and Human Sciences said, everyone suffers from stress in their daily lives. Solving problems is very important to maintaining well-being in everyday life.
For this study, researchers conducted a survey with 2022 participants between the ages of 33 and 84 years old.
Over the course of eight days, each person was interviewed about their feelings and experiences. The team also analyzed reports from participants about arguments and avoiding problems, including cases in which people could have raised disagreement. Then they determined how the incident affected the person’s reported change in negative and positive feelings, either on the day of the problem or the day after it occurred.
The measure of how an experience affects a person emotionally, or an increase in negative emotions or a decrease in positive emotions, on the day they occur is known as reactivity. Negative and positive influence refers to the degree of negative and positive emotions that a person feels on a particular day. The day after the discussion or avoiding an argument, the results were more evident: People who felt it was resolved did not show a prolonged rise in their negative influence the next day.
The study also revealed that respondents aged 68 or over were 40% more likely to resolve conflicts - compared to those aged 45 or younger. But the reflection of the solution status on the negative and positive impact of people remained the same regardless of age.
The team concluded that older individuals may be more motivated not to argue because they have fewer years left. The life experience of this group provided them with the skills to defuse or avoid conflict.
While people cannot always control the stressors that occur in their lives and the lack of control itself is a stressor in many cases - they can work on their emotional response to those stressors.